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Thursday, 8 December 2016

Cranberry orange brownies

At times of high stress, sometimes the only solution is chocolate. The fastest way for a fix - other than buying a bar or a block - is the brownie. One bowl, no need for softening of butter or room temperature anything, just melt, stir, pour, bake, slice and serve. This Smitten Kitchen recipe doesn't even require you to have dark chocolate in the house - it uses cocoa instead - and so can be whipped up from pantry staples. My friend Joanna had recently made these with orange zest - to great acclaim - and I further freewheeled by substituting walnuts for cranberries. I used dried, but fresh or frozen would work just as well for that pop of sour among all the sweet. Serve warm, at room temperature, refrigerated or straight from the freezer. It all works.

Cranberry orange browniesAdapted from a recipe by Deb Perelman of Smitten Kitchen I have ziplock bags of various citrus zest in the freezer as I'm unable to let an orange or a lemon or a grapefruit be juiced without first harvesting all that amazing flavour found in its skin. This is the sort of recipe where that foresight comes in handy. If you've got this sort of situation yourself, feel free to up the amount of zest - or at least, don't be worried about estimating exact quantities. More is more here, I don't think you could overdo it, and if you don't put enough in it will get lost among the other big flavours.140g unsalted butter250g sugar65g cocoa powder1/4 tsp salt (or a heaping 1/4 tsp flaky salt like Maldon)1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract2 large eggs, cold65g flour75g cranberries (dried/fresh/frozen)zest of one orange

Position a rack in the lower
third of the oven and preheat the oven to 325°F. Line the bottom and
sides of an 8×8-inch square baking pan with baking paper,
leaving an overhang on two opposite sides.

Combine the butter, sugar, cocoa, and salt in a medium heatproof bowl
and set the bowl atop a saucepan of barely
simmering water, making sure the bottom of the bowl doesn't get wet. Stir from time to time until the butter is melted and
the mixture is smooth.Set the bowl aside briefly until the mixture is only warm, not hot. Don't be alarmed if it looks gritty at this point. Stir in the vanilla and orange zest with a wooden spoon. Add the eggs one at a time. When the batter looks thick, shiny,
and well blended, add the flour and once it's incorporated, beat vigorously for thirty seconds with a wooden spoon or a
rubber spatula. Stir in the cranberries. Spread evenly in the lined
pan.

Bake until a toothpick plunged into the centre emerges slightly moist
with batter, about 35 minutes. Let cool completely on a rack then lift up the ends of the baking paper, and transfer the brownies to a cutting board. Cut into 16 or 25 squares.

2 comments:

Alice this brownie is incredible. I also soaked the dried cranberries in kirsch and is was truly delicious. Redcliffe rehab devoured in record time. Think I might rty cherries soaked in kirsh next time. Will keep you posted on how that works out. Thank you. Can you recommend any festive easter bakes? Thank you Alice

So glad you liked them Alison! Hmmm... festive Easter bakes. I'm a sucker for a hot cross bun but am planning to make a batch of cardamom buns this Easter as I'm staying with an anti-sultana friend: http://alicebakesacake.blogspot.com.au/2016/08/cardamom-buns.html Highly recommended and much so much easier than you might think looking at them.